


Teach Me Love

by Kisuru



Category: Tokyo Babylon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Medias res, What-If, light teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-07 14:04:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8803714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisuru/pseuds/Kisuru
Summary: In a world where Subaru did not meet the Sakurazukamori under the cherry blossoms at nine years old, Subaru finds himself the target of Tokyo's greatest assassin at sixteen.A government official ordering an assassination attempt on a Sumeragi is the most foolish order in the book No one would be stupid enough for that. Until there is.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [adevyish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adevyish/gifts).



Blood pounded in his ears. Subaru slammed the door to his apartment behind him and wildly glanced side to side down the darkened hallway. No one stood there waiting for him, but he could feel the string of dark power hit the door behind him and claw at the metal. The power tried to sneak under the door, reaching towards him like the flow of a river at midnight.  
  
Subaru backed away and gathered up his plan of action.  
  
Dressed only in pajamas, Subaru had been roused out of a tiresome sleep. After a long day’s work and homework on top of it all, he was even less amused. Catching up on his assignments had been the last of his worries; explaining the unfortunate deaths from his previous job to their families would never became easier in all his years as an onmyouji. He had tried to save them, truly, but the spirits roaming Tokyo always posed a hazard.  
  
The main source of the power was far away. But, no, that power felt so _close_ like it could set his whole apartment into chaos. He could barely pinpoint it. That was what scared him the most.  
  
In the years his grandmother had taught his onmyoujitsu, he had never run across something this sinister. And even at sixteen, a full seasoned onmyouji worth his salt in gold, he was struggling.  
  
Subaru spared a glance to the door directly across from his. Behind that door, he swore he could hear the beat of pop music.  
  
Hokuto-chan. He would protect her and definitely not involve her in this problem. For all he knew, she may be sleeping or sewing another flamboyant outfit for his wardrobe—maybe dreaming of the design and working on the stitches in the safety of her dreamscape where she never ran out of materials. Either way, Subaru would do anything in his power to wrestle this presence away from her, or have her oblivious to this imposing threat.  
  
Subaru’s green eyes squeezed shut. He patted his pocket where he kept his ofuda. At the worst of moments, he always made sure he had his ofuda prepared on his person and not merely in hands reach. That was what his grandmother had always warned.  
  
_And keep your eyes peeled for the Sakurazukamori—  
_  
Subaru rubbed his hands together, bare skin warm but clammy with the fade of panic into a serious and stern mindset.  
  
Anything was likely to happen in Tokyo. Just like coming face-to-face with their ancient enemy. Sometimes he didn’t really believe those stories, but Hokuto liked to tease him, and Subaru never liked to ride off his grandmother’s advice. Subaru quite believed all the rumors associated with dark onmyoujitsu, but the Saku—  
  
Subaru whipped around and, fingers deft at grasping the slim edge of one of his ofuda, flung it at the darkness next the nearby Exit sign. The ofuda exploded in a flash of powdery white light.  
  
All night the lingering eyes had been firm and unshakable. No matter what he did, he swore the eyes could follow him through the walls. His enchantments had not dealt as much punch as he would have hoped. Every time he had put his wards up, those shields and barriers would be sliced and smashed with one fell swoop of another virulent spell tossing his power aside like a ragdoll. Subaru would deflect those spells, too, but he could feel the sheer… the…  
  
If he had one way to describe the nature of those spells, he would tentatively call it the almost _playfulness_ of the attacks. It was as if the unforeseen dark presence felt the need to tug at his patience little by little and have fun at the expense of his irritation.  
  
No one besides an onmyouji would know how to fight like this.  
  
Someone that clearly knew the dark arts as well as Subaru.  
  
But who around Tokyo could possibly have studied that much?  
  
Subaru’s footsteps pound against the rickety staircase, breathless and throat parched. His hands are slippery from sweat as he leaps down two or three stairs at a time. Yes, he should take the stairs—the elevator is too inconvenient, narrow and trapped, and he fears what someone after him could do in an enclosed space.  
  
He does not know why, but he feels fear. Fear Subaru never has experienced in his time being an onmyouji squeezed at his heart and forces him to breathe rapidly. No, not in his entire his life has he ever been exposed to such ferocity and relentless curses.  
  
Those scrying spells had been especially malicious. Something about the quality of the spells fired was marvelous yet terrifying like intricate ritual pulled off effortlessly. The craftsmanship of those spells astounded even Subaru’s sensibilities, a skilled practitioner of his own right.  
  
When he reached into lobby, Subaru took note of his surroundings and the people milling about. Once, twice. He blushed a bit then—the wind from the lobby door went through the thin fabric of his pajamas. Polka dot pajamas, to be exact—how embarrassing—but he had at least grabbed one of Hokuto’s jackets and tossed it over his front on the way out. Admittedly, it was not ideal for strolling Tokyo’s streets or dignified for a fight.  
  
But it would have to do for now. Subaru had no alternatives, and he would not let himself be backed up into a corner.  
  
Was this what it felt like to be a target of murder?  
  
Was that what this was? He had seen enough death to know.  
  
To be caught off guard like this… and reject those spells against his own wards, chanting against that destructive force…  
  
Subaru bolted out the door into the humid night. People passed him, but he darted around them, efficient at maneuvering through the throngs of crowds in a dire and necessary situation. Ghosts were not always lenient on not causing mayhem, after all.  
  
Fortunately, none of the passerby gave him any looks. The crowd dispersed as he continued to hurry along any which way he could while he formulated a plan. As long as he ended up somewhere secluded, a place that no one else would get involved would be all he could ask for.  
  
It seemed a hairline too easy to escape. Whoever this mysterious drop-by visitor was, Subaru could not figure out why they did not attack in the open street while he was vulnerable. Subaru was thankful anyway.  
  
A shadow swooped above his head. Subaru paused on the street corner and skid to a bumpy halt against the curb, panting to recollect himself. Subaru stared into the piercing, ruthless yellow eyes of shikigami in the form of a hawk right in front of him.  


* * *

  
A silvery sheen of moonlight covered the rooftop. He stood next to the rooftop’s edge, foot placed on the ledge. He watched carefully with lips pressed together and amber eyes narrowed thoughtfully.  
  
The white smoke from his cigarette joined the clouds above. It swirled and mixed in an intermingled mass of questions.  
  
Disappointing, really—the young head of the clan was not up to standards he had believed. Murdering a Sumeragi would mean bring him no thrill or shame but only the ill omens of a family on the verge of murdering him in return. He would disrupt Tokyo’s balance (and at extension all of Japan while he was at his most reckless actions), but Seishirou held no personal qualms about that either.  
  
Killing a Sumeragi was supposedly strict business—that was, if he actually obeyed that order and did so without complaint.  
  
Seishirou did not grovel and complain; if it didn’t suit his fancy, he opted to do nothing and let the results speak for themselves.  
  
But he had wanted to experiment a little bit…  
  
Seishirou never questioned whose blood he split. It could have been an old, wheelchair bound seventy-year-old after their swaying in the wrong favors, or an innocent little girl that had a future in front of her the dreamseers had marked as a death sentence. None of their lives mattered on the greater scale.  
  
Still, the exhilaration of the hunt pulsed in his veins. It meant everything to an assassin. He always hoped for a delightful chase beyond his dreary life as a practicing veterinarian.  
  
This infamous Sumeragi made this his job far too simple.  
  
Seishirou had not exactly known what to prepare for. Combat was never an issue, but he should have been up against someone who was an onmyouji as well as his equal, his magical foil.  
  
But he had not found that in the teenager. Not particularly.  
  
At least Subaru had not passed his standards for his other half.  
  
Subaru-kun had expressed interest in a pleasant and potentially deadly fight, however. Most clues would prove otherwise but he knew Subaru was not the most outspoken person. Seishirou was the type of assassin to gather intel rather than relying on the eyes of witnesses. Most people, including his superiors, did not always understand onmyoujitsu.  
  
Seishirou gracelessly dropped the cigarette on the rooftop tile under his foot and stomped out the lingering trail of smoke.  
  
It did not matter. Every life assigned to him was extinguishable with only the simplest of methods. Nothing he rarely exercised.  
  
Except…. He had used spells, and it had been… fascinating…  
  
Ordering for the death of a Sumeragi, honestly… Did anyone honestly believe that would fly over well with the magical families in Japan, let alone the emperor and his family?  
  
For a politician angry about one of the Sumeragi’s failed cases Seishirou found quite ignorant and worthless taste.  
  
But at least he had snatched up this assignment for himself.  
  
Seishirou always knew his enemy first; the Sakurazukamori never failed to gather all the intelligence beforehand. Brushing up on Subaru had been ludicrously easy. To think, the Sumeragi kept himself in the news and the public’s eye. The light. Meanwhile Seishirou hovered in the darkness and worked in secret.  
  
In all preference, Seishirou actually was not opposed to that.  
  
A smile curved Seishirou’s face, indulgent yet cutting. He watched the Sumeragi show up in his field of vision through the eyes of his shikigami, Nandarou. The Sumeragi’s panic settled in his expressive eyes. But he could see it—fiery determination.  
  
Perhaps that change of heart would work for him, then.  
  
So if Seishirou’s target did not die and become the tree’s latest victim… Well, he would have a much different opponent.  
  


* * *

  
No matter how many times Subaru tossed ofuda, the shikigami hawk swerved and dodged. It swooped higher and higher in the sky and then nosedived at him. Racing across the street, Subaru flung himself around a pole. The shikigami flew around in a circle. Another ofuda hit one of its wide wings and forced it to fly away.  
  
Subaru blinked at the sparks of light, stunned.  
  
Shouldn’t it have disappeared? How strong was that spirit?  
  
But he had stalled and done enough. He was close to an isolated enough spot; the front of an abandoned warehouse building.  
  
Before the business had shutdown, Subaru had helped the manager of the company. The company had shipped out packages from here. The ghost of a dead worker had haunted the area after an accident and her previous coworkers. He could feel her struggle now—the fight to stay calm yet a force to be respected and taken seriously. Nevertheless, putting her to rest had been miniscule in compared to his current hidden foe.  
  
This was not the best scenario. But it would have to do. For now.  
  
Subaru was well aware he had not gotten far. Not nearly far enough. His assailant was still hot on his heels—  
  
Both of Subaru’s index fingers pressed together and pointed towards the sky. He deflected black energy aimed at him. Subaru gasped at how the spell pushed him backwards into the warehouse’s rickety front doors. He shook his head to clear it, otherwise unruffled. His mouth set to a thin line.  
  
“Wouldn’t you say it a beautiful night?” a voice asked from above him, silky and baritone. He could hear it—the deep tones of someone not deterred easily from something they had set their eye on. “A wonderful night for a chat. Isn’t it, Subaru-kun?”  
  
Subaru did a double take. He caught sight of the black clad man, all too pristine in a suit, white shirt, and whipping black trenchcoat. Wisps of white smoke dissolved like spiderwebs above his head from the leftovers of his attack. Cherry blossoms swirled and fell like rainfall around the both of them, obscuring the moonlight.  
  
Subaru positioned himself again to attack if he had too, not positive of what he should make of this mysterious person.  
  
“H—How do you know my name?” Subaru tried. Despite himself, his voice was firm, proud and full of as much command as any distinguished onmyouji in the Sumeragi family would muster. “And why are you doing this? I have no idea who you are.”  
  
But Subaru had this feeling that he did know. He very much did.  
  
_Not to let himself get carried away by the cherry blossoms…_  
  
If the man had been a spirit Subaru would have known the answer. Spirits did not always take well to going to the afterlife. Subaru would feel the brunt of their anger if his exorcisms did not go according to plan, but he understood the ways of backlash.  
  
What was he supposed to do with a living, breathing human?  
  
Seishirou sized him up. Unlike the disapproval in his smile, his frown spoke volumes, full of confidence and sneer and victory.  
  
Poised and elegant, Seishirou jumped to eye level with Subaru. Subaru looked up at Seishirou approached and tensed, prepared.  
  
“Ah, excuse me,” Seishirou replied, frightfully polite like usual, “I just can’t help knowing who you are—a dear famous onmyouji.”  
  
Subaru could agree with this much about knowing him, but Seishirou’s next words made his blood run cold in his veins.  
  
“Usually, I kill my victims without playing with them first,” Seishirou admitted. He sighed, eyes narrowed. “I tried to play with you for a while, but you’re not quite what I expected you to be.”  
  
Everything about Seishirou’s tone was aggravatingly calm.  
  
Subaru’s eyes widen at the word “kill” and he stepped back.  
  
Subaru never hated anyone. He was a pacifist for intents and purposes. But that glower… Subaru was glad he had steered Seishirou far away from Hokuto. Dread gnawed at his gut, telling Subaru that he had made the right decision. If Hokuto had been involved with someone like this, she certainly would have gotten hurt just to defend him from harm. He would not have that.  
  
Composing himself, Subaru accepted that Seishirou could not be trusted. This confrontation could go in any number of ways.  
  
“What is that supposed to mean?” Subaru grit his teeth. For this man to tell him that he would kill him so callously, so full of dispassionate sympathy and a gleam of amusement in those ravenous amber eyes… How could he let that pass?  
  
Seishirou shrugged. “Does it honestly matter?”  
  
Before he threw an ofuda, Subaru was flat on the ground with the air punched right out of his fragile lungs. He choked, eyes wide. Seishirou stared down at him, expression void. His grip made up for his lack of compassion; he held Subaru around the throat. He pressed directly on Subaru’s pulse point and felt each beat tap. Subaru kicked and clawed, but Seishirou chuckled, amused.  
  
Seishirou gently stroked his cheek. His grip loosened just a little bit—a rare form of mercy. It was enough for Subaru to breath in sweet air, and he inhaled as deeply as he could on reflex.  
  
“It doesn’t give me joy to kill you, you know,” Seishirou assured him. He admired the raging anger boiling on Subaru’s face. He had never fought someone with so much attention to their craft, their life meaning so much to them. “I thought since you’re of Sumeragi blood you might hand me a greater challenge for the price I was paid. But look at you. You can barely defend yourself.”  
  
Obviously, Seishirou needed no price paid to know his family’s life sworn enemy. Neither did he really plan to kill him like an attack dog on the empty wishes of a no-face politician.  
  
What would be the point of revealing his identity as the Sakurazukamori? Would it make a difference? Surely the thirteenth Sumeragi head, Sumeragi Subaru, would know who he was. In fact, he should be able to fill in the rest of the puzzle, but sadly Seishirou sensed he was not quite that cunning.  
  
But… Subaru knowing would be less tedious and more intriguing. Something surged within Seishirou at the prospects.  
  
“Does that mean…” Subaru wheezed.  
  
Seishirou’s focus wandered back to him. Something in his voice caught his attention, and he frowned. Normally, victims gave him little a reason to acknowledge them. But Sumeragi Subaru—  
  
“You’re the Sakurazukamori, aren’t you?”  
  
A glimmer of surprise crossed Seishirou’s face. Genuine surprise. His grip slackened, and Subaru could breathe again.  
  
Subaru noticed this. Even though he was the one on the ground, Subaru felt as though he had just regained his balance.  
  
“My sis… family,” Subaru corrected himself to shield her, “said that, one day, we’d meet the Sakurazukamori after we came to Tokyo. I never thought that may be true…” He barely believed this turn of events for himself. For all the dark stories in his family, or the warnings his grandmother had provided him, Subaru had never thought possible a meeting with the Sakurazukamori like this. For that matter, want to kill him for a reasonable excuse.  
  
Pointless to hide that he had a sister. He had a twin. Seishirou had seen that not in his report. He had seen stalking the brother and sister go shopping last week for clothes and accessories.  
  
Hokuto-chan, was it? Hokuto-chan had impeccable fashion sense.  
  
Once again, the politician had been a fool to put an assassination attempt on a Sumeragi. Seishirou was sure the paperwork had come to him first. And it had been a petty reason that Seishirou could only guess; Subaru had finished one of his onmyouji jobs not satisfactorily to the man’s tastes. But Seishirou was given the commands to kill, and even when he was granted the barebones to know the meaning behind the murder and the dreamseers’ wishes, he never cared enough to read through the whole report. None of that made a difference.  
  
“But you…” Subaru pushed himself up on his elbows. “I don’t think there’s anyone else in Tokyo as powerful as you.” **  
**  
Seishirou’s pride swelled. He supposed he had a good eye.  
  
Flashy sentiments meant nothing to him. Cut and dry and to the point communication was key to Seishirou’s success.  
  
And he could appreciate that much about Subaru’s words.  
  
Mildly intrigued, Seishirou decided Subaru was not as naïve as he put on airs for. “Correct,” he replied, a newfound respect seeping into his tone. He leaned a little closer, and Subaru winced and squirmed. “But I don’t think that information will benefit you if you can’t release yourself from my hold. This is goodbye.” His lips brushed Subaru’s ear. “It really is adorable you thought you could actually defeat the Sakurazukamori in a brawl, Subaru-kun.”  
  
A brilliant light sparked to life in front his eyes, and the spell threw Seishirou backwards. He flipped over and landed on his side. He quickly leapt to his feet, trenchcoat sailing in the chill breeze, hand slightly scrapped up from hitting the jagged pavement.  
  
Subaru shakily stood to his feet. He rubbed the handprint marks on his neck, hand reaching under his shirt collar to touch the blossoming bruise. How dare he even say that he was… _cute_.  
  
Oddly, Subaru found his cheeks reddening under the pressure. No one ever called him “adorable” for any reason. Unless someone was trying to flatter him, or Hokuto wanted to tell him that he especially complimented her outfit of the day.  
  
Subaru… felt strangely… tingly. Happy about being noticed.  
  
Shaking his head fiercely, Subaru groaned in frustration.  
  
No, Subaru wouldn’t let snide comments like that get to him. At all. Subaru’s anger only fueled him want to fight the Sakurazukamori and strip him of his cruel satisfaction through making him uncomfortable. He turned to face the Sakurazukamori again. He stepped back, hands up, ready to cast another chant if so be the case.  
  
Based on his posture, Seishirou guessed Subaru was ready to continue their fight. Every victim usually fled, but Subaru was in his own league compared to those forgotten, nameless people.  
  
In a flurry of midnight and pink, the world changed into a velvety purple night without a moon. The cherry blossom trees swayed in an eternal breeze, petals fluttering in a wind that did not stir. Many cherry blossom trees appeared alongside each other, but the one tree that outclassed them all was the largest, gnarled tree.  
  
Subaru soaked in his new surroundings. Thoroughly stunned at not just the burst of power, he absorbed the absolute beauty.  
  
In fact, Subaru lost his composure so long Seishirou appeared behind him and grabbed him around the waist. He swiftly grabbed his hand and pinned it above his head. Subaru instantly struggled against the hold—as a small victory he stomped on Seishirou’s left foot—but nothing changed their positions in his favor.  
  
Seishirou’s hand gently touched his heart. Deceptively gentle. Dare Subaru say the motion was tender—the way Seishirou kept his hand over his heart. Subaru’s breath became shallow.  
  
Whatever he planned to do, Subaru could not imagine.  
  
 Subaru still didn’t regret what he had gotten himself into fully. Now, he had a better picture of who the Sakurazukamori was.  
  
“You’re truly a kind person, Subaru-kun,” Seishirou praised. These are words without warmth, but he sounded faintly sincere. “I can feel your heart beating. It says you don’t want to kill me—it says you’re terrified. You don’t want to hurt someone that wants to hurt you. Why? Why don’t you want to hurt someone like me?”  
  
Subaru frowned. That should be fairly obvious. “Because I help people live. And move on.” Hokuto scolded him for having such a big heart for everyone he met. She declared he needed his own special person. With that person, he would feel selfless instead of burdening himself with a love that was spread like tasteless candy. But… he had a feeling… “But you only kill, Sakurazukamori.”  
  
Seishirou’s chin rested on his shoulder. This was not conclusive, only concrete in a vague muddle of emotion. “If you think so.”  
  
Subaru would get few answers like this, and he bit his lip to think faster. The Sakurazukamori was secretive… A force he could not understand. But Subaru realized one thing. His breath hitched.  
  
“And because you’re cruel you can’t understand the reason I want to protect people, can you?” Subaru asked quietly. “I care about everyone in this city, and I would do anything for them.”  
  
Seishirou peered down at his expression. He evaluated the look for lies or truth. Subaru was firm. A twinge of wonderment and curiosity flipped in his chest like a switch that had never been active.  
  
Earning money or the self-satisfaction would be more plausible.  
  
Not love.  
  
“Love doesn’t concern me,” Seishirou said. “Love is kindness.”  
  
Subaru had not called it love. But it was abundantly obvious he meant love. The last words Seishirou’s mother had spoken rang in his ears. Setsuka had been wrong for various reasons about needing love. She had been wrong that he would love one day.  
  
And now, Seishirou had found another fish lead to the sea of love.  
  
Subaru’s brow furrowed. The word love was surreal coming out of the Sakurazukamori’s mouth. Something about it, though… He heard a quality of loneliness he had heard over and over during his time with people. Seishirou must have never felt love.  
  
Subaru felt insane for drawing that conclusion.  
  
But if his hunch was the truth…  
  
Then Subaru felt extremely sad for Seishirou.  
  
“I can’t tell you what love does or doesn’t concern,” Subaru admitted quietly, “but I don’t think… I don’t think someone who can create an illusion like this one can be a horrible person.”  
  
Illusionary magic was rare unless it was passed down a lineage, or the user had a specific reason for learning illusionary tactics. Subaru had never seen such a powerful illusion in his entire life, but this illusion was state-of-the-art dark magic that he would not be able to penetrate easily. And if the Sakurazukamori handled that much power, the cherry blossom’s beauty was unrivaled.  
  
No one could make an illusion like the Sakurazukamori could, and Subaru guessed each illusion, in its own way, must be unique.  
  
Seishirou stilled for a moment. Irritatingly, he was speechless. His mouth worked, jaw set. He should feel amused, or even proud, that a Sumeragi was complimenting his cherry blossoms.  
  
Seishirou’s fascination was peaked in a way it never had been.  
  
Seishirou’s hold on him relaxed, though did not remove his hand from Subaru’s heart or the hand behind his back. Leaning in closer, he chuckled. “Can you teach me about love, Subaru-kun? I may learn just a little bit better with such a cute teacher.”  
  
Seishirou falling in love. Seishirou was purely impervious to love’s conflicting charms, but he wanted to see it for himself.  
  
Why did humans push themselves for romance?  
  
Subaru’s ears burned. It was mental whiplash from murder to love. He had no idea where to even begin with that, or what it would entail, and why Seishirou wanted to learn about love after he had said something kind about his flowers. Because he really did love the cherry blossoms. He loved them, because he loved Tokyo.  
  
“I—I.. um…” Subaru stumbled superbly over his own sentence, befuddled but entranced by the question. Teaching love to his clan’s enemy and an assassin did not seem like the best life choice.  
  
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Seishirou decided with a curt nod.  
  
Releasing Subaru, he fell forwards on the pavement. The hiss of fabric signaled Seishirou’s shouldering off his trenchcoat. He bent down and wrapped it around his small frame, suddenly the most chivalrous person in he could be—a 180 ° turnaround.  
  
Accepting may be a waste of time, but…  
  
Something may come of their little agreement.  
  
And a challenge like that may be more worthwhile than their fight.  
  
“Subaru-kun, I don’t think you should run around Tokyo in your pajamas,” he scolded lightly, grinning broadly. “Polka dots are adorable. Not as adorable as you, I’d modestly say, but they aren’t appropriate to outside. I can’t leave you embarrassed!”  
  
Rightly confused and scared, Subaru tried to push the trenchcoat off. Seishirou managed to wrestle his arms into it. Subaru blinked at the warmth. He had not realized how cold he was until now, and Seishirou’s warmth surrounded him, the coat a big cushion on his slender frame.  
  
“What are you—?” Subaru started.  
  
Seishirou turned away. “I think we’ll meet again, Subaru-kun.”  
  
Panicking, Subaru pushed himself to his knees. He clutched the trenchcoat despite himself. “Wait! Where are you going?”  
  
“Obviously, I’m going to kill the man that put an assassination attempt out for your life. I can’t have him looking for someone else to finish the job when he was dissatisfied with your work. I think you must have done the best job you could—now that I have feeling for you.” Did romantic feelings just happen? He didn’t really know, but he would say so in this case. Seishirou winked and smiled wolfishly. Twisted but meaningful. “After all, I didn’t plan to kill you in the first place. You passed. Killing you will be my pleasure. So let’s eliminate all the obstacles, shall we?”  
  
Subaru opened his mouth to protest. Seishirou interrupted and knelt next to him. Subaru scoot back but found his hands clasped.  
  
“Oh, and before I leave,” Seishirou said as if it were a second-hand thought, “do you like animals, Subaru-kun?”  
  
Wearily, Subaru wondered if it was wise to tell him. He loved animals more than people sometimes. Wanting to become a zoologist had been his lifelong dream. To someone like this it might important he did not divulge details, just like his birthday.  
  
Seishirou saw the answer in Subaru’s shimmering eyes, however. So hopeful. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plain white card. “Take my business card. Have you heard of the Sakurazuka Clinic?”  
  
Subaru’s fingers felt too much like jelly to handle it, but the card was placed lightly between his thumb and index fingers. He almost dropped the card when he took it, but Seishirou put it in the center of his palm. Not reading business cards properly was incredibly impolite, but he could barely keep his eyes on it and read the words. He did a quick scan and shook his head.  
  
“I’m also a veterinarian,” Seishirou supplied. He smirked and traced Subaru’s fingers with his own. “That’s my day job—Sakurazuka Seishirou, the kind and gentle veterinarian. I’ll wait for you to visit and look at the animals. And you should bring your sister along, I have a feeling we we’ll get along wonderfully.”  
  
Subaru flinched, eyes wide. Day job? Night job? How busy was… No, he knew about Hokuto! If he knew about Hokuto, would—  
  
… Was there even a point in worrying about this anymore?  
  
Seishirou lifted Subaru’s hand towards his lips. Such tender, thin skin. The pale, unblemished skin on the back of Subaru’s hand was divine. “And because I chose you, I’ll mark you.”  
  
Subaru would have done something, anything to counteract, if he had known what was to come next. Seishirou held on firmly and pulled him in close. Seishirou’s lips touched the back of his hand.  
  
A searing pain shot through every nerve and fiber of Subaru’s body. The pain was instant and subsided within a minute. The aftershocks were unbearable, and Subaru’s fingers dug into his palms to keep awake. A glowing pentagram appeared on first right hand first and then the left, the backs of his hands prickling and pulsing rapidly. White stars flashed in front of his eyes. Subaru felt dizzy and lightheaded; he had to fight to keep himself awake, Subaru could barely manage that much.  
  
Seishirou admired his handiwork. The pentagram was perfect. He had never marked anyone with the distinctive Sakurazukamori’s mark, which made this occasion all the more special.  
  
To have something special… Yes, Seishirou had made an interesting decision. He hoped he would keep the interest.  
  
“I think I already love Subaru-kun,” he decided, slipping into his veterinary role. It was fake and rusty but it would do for the moment. Because who would love a cold-hearted assassin?  
  
Mystified, Subaru watched as the illusion disappeared around him. A sea of cherry blossom petals dashed in swirling mists. The Tokyo skyline returned and blazing moonlight.  
  
Seishirou helped him to his feet before he began to take off down the street. He trusted Subaru to make his way home despite his current condition. He waved, cheerful. He soon disappeared beyond the horizon on a shadowy rooftop. And then silence.  
  
Subaru did not know what devious thing he had signed himself up for. He clutched the business card until it bent. He clung onto the trenchcoat and found it a particularly, weirdly, comforting.  
  
All Subaru knew was he hoped deep in his heart that he really could teach Seishirou what happiness and love meant.


End file.
